Reconsideration decision issues

hi

background:
Sent an appeal against 18mnths in the wrag group in late February and in mid may i telephoned to be told verbally i had success with my appeal at reconsideration stage. I am now in support group. I
was told a confirmation letter would be sent when they have 'cleared their back logs' as they were 'very busy'.

It is now the start of July, 1.5 months after the phone call i mention (and 4 months after my original appeal submission) and i have still not received the confirmation of reconsideration decision letter (Does this letter have an I.D. ?).

concerns:
1.Want to request an LT54 to determine what length of time i have been placed in the support group under the successful reconsideration. However i am unsure if i can request the LT54 before i recieve a reconsideration decision confirmation letter ?
2. I am unclear how to know what date the move into the support group under the reconsideration has occurred from ?
3. I understand that the reconsideration decision confirmation letter contains another right of appeal & i may consider this if the length of time i have been placed in the support group is only for 6
months under the reconsideration decision.
I am worried that due to their current 'delays' a reconsideration decision confirmation letter might only arrive very late or not at all( where potentially 3 - 4 months has already passed) therefore giving me little or no time to appeal against the reconsideration decision before i would be requested to submit to another reassessment for ESA.

Can you bring any clarity regarding my rights & what you think should apply or might be expected regarding my reconsideration decision.

Thanks for your attention.

n

Catch up on the latest for this situation:

I sent a special delivery written request for written confirmation of my placement in the Support group as well as a request for a copy of the LT54 which i suggested must have been generated during reconsideration which appears to have taken place during March 2012.

My written request was sent on 25th June - it is now 25th July - so a month later. Still no response.

It's 2 months on from the phone call i had in May which verbally confirmed placement in the support group.


Should i be concerned and are their legal deadlines the DWP should be called to account on regarding this matter or should i not worry and just wait it out ? I'm currently just assuming i am indeed in the SG and getting on with treatment ! Further phone calls to DWP seem pointless because they just seem to invite the usual non-specific verbal confirmations from a clueless DWP operator.

I'm not sure what else i can do ? suggestions welcome.

thanks again
n

hi my next action would be to get my MP involved and perhaps the local press.good luck peter

nicholson wrote:

Catch up on the latest for this situation:

I sent a special delivery written request for written confirmation of my placement in the Support group as well as a request for a copy of the LT54 which i suggested must have been generated during reconsideration which appears to have taken place during March 2012.

My written request was sent on 25th June - it is now 25th July - so a month later. Still no response.

It's 2 months on from the phone call i had in May which verbally confirmed placement in the support group.


Should i be concerned and are their legal deadlines the DWP should be called to account on regarding this matter or should i not worry and just wait it out ? I'm currently just assuming i am indeed in the SG and getting on with treatment ! Further phone calls to DWP seem pointless because they just seem to invite the usual non-specific verbal confirmations from a clueless DWP operator.

I'm not sure what else i can do ? suggestions welcome.

thanks again
n

All social security decisions should be conveyed to the claimant in writing as soon as the decision is made on the claim, or as it appears in your case, the date when you were moved from the WRAG to the support group.

The situation you find yourself in at the moment is that you have a non-promulgated decision because it has not been communicated to you in writing. What this means is that there is no notice of the decision and therefore there is no right of appeal. I realise that you wouldn't intend appealing what amounts to a (more) favourable ESA decision, but strange as it might seem, support group decisions also carry the right of appeal as a claimant may consider that they should be included in the WRAG instead of the SG.

I would imagine that these type of appeals would be extremely rare especially as contribution-based ESA is time-limited and paid at a lower component rate, but you can never rule out the possibility!